Danes waiting for Black to be back

UAlbany point guard still out with an ankle sprain

Published 12:34 am, Friday, November 26, 2010

There is no doubt that the University at Albany men's basketball team is better when sophomore Mike Black is a part of it.

The Great Danes are just hoping the 6-foot point guard gets a chance to prove that sooner rather than later.

Black, who sprained his left ankle in the season opener against Cornell, hasn't played since. He has missed the past four games for the 1-4 Danes, who have a rugged schedule Thanksgiving weekend.

Albany is in the Detroit Subregional of the fourth annual Legends Classic and will play games Friday night and Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The Danes will play Detroit (1-3), picked to finish second behind Butler in the Horizon League, Friday night at 7:30.

Then they will play Niagara (1-2) of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference at 5 p.m. Saturday and will finish the weekend against Bowling Green (1-3) of the Mid-American Conference at 3 p.m. Sunday. Bowling Green is coached by former Siena coach Louis Orr.

UAlbany, which got pasted 86-65 at home by Iona on Tuesday, sure could use Black, who is the most athletic player coach Will Brown has. If he has to wait a little longer for him, Brown says he'll do it.

More Information

UAlbany vs. Detroit

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Where: Calihan Hall, Detroit, Michigan

Radio: 980 AM

-

Brown said Black had an individual workout with assistant coach Jeremy Friel the day of the Iona game and Black was winded.

The player, of course, wanted to play against Iona, but Brown knew that wasn't going to happen. The coach would like to see him play sometime this weekend, but he doesn't know if that is going to happen, either.

"We will either sit him all three games or try to play him Saturday and Sunday," Brown said. "If we don't play him Friday or Saturday, we won't play him Sunday."

That would mean Black might not play until Saturday, Dec. 4 when the Danes play Siena at Times Union Center.

"We just want him to be as comfortable as he can be from the shoulders up," Brown saif. "He is struggling right now, conditionwise and, when he comes back, we will have to get him in and out of the lineup. When he does come back, I don't want to have him worry about the foot. I want him to worry about helping us win games."

With Black's status uncertain and three games staring at him, Brown said he is going to have to get some playing time for players who haven't had much.

Besides Black being out, the Danes will have to watch 6-10 center John Puk, who has been playing with an Achilles' tendon issue since the season started.

"Assuming Mike is not going to be able to play, we are going to have to get a ninth and a tenth guy to be in the rotation," Brown said. "We have been going with eight, but we need to get some contributions from other guys who aren't playing much right now to get through that tournament.''

Tim Wilkin can be reached at 454-5415 or by e-mail at twilkin@timesunion.com.